[steve f]

+1. The Crowns are very good. You can always designate them for sub duty at a later date. The XLS series has a lot of current drive. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what they can do. The only speakers you should not use Class D amps on are electrostatics.

steve

[thunderbrick]

I have been saving for over 3 years and not close to kismets.

Seems to me you should focus on one great system and keep a much lesser rig in the basement.  Or get rid of the basement system altogether.

I venture to say all of us are financially challenged to one degree or another.  We get it.  HE Audio is a luxury, not a necessity. 

Establish priorities.  Sell the Sunfire, get an old NAD 3020 as a preamp and go for the Odysseys, then gradually build up those items one at time.

AC members have given you a lot of good advice.  Start slow and build up with upgrades is a way to do it on a budget.  Long term it may be more expensive, but you (and I) only have short-term dollars.  As one who is often plagued with "did I buy the right item?  Should I have gotten the other amp?" neurosis, I also struggle with decisions on buying things, but it's your decision, not ours.

Anyway, good luck with the decision! 

[aaron.luebke]

JUST spoke with The guy from the repair shop in Rockford.
The old warhorse came off the bench and said he was impressed to say the least. He measured output before clipping at:
612w@8ohm
1,230w@4ohm
2,460+@2ohm
And bursts of over 4000w@1ohm via a 30 amp line in his shop.
He asked me if i was interested in selling. I had to say no, his offer was very good, but i just couldnt sell my pride & joy. Looking forward to picking it up in a couple weeks and hooking it up and replacing the emotiva with my old Carver warhorse. Gonna make my rc-70's rock & roll!!!!

I live in Rockford! Who do you use for your repair?  The Video Lab guy?   

[Arcticdeth]

I live in Rockford! Who do you use for your repair?  The Video Lab guy?

I forget. It wasn't video lab. Some other shop.  I did gps to get there and back home.
I'm in Tinley park. Long and awesome drive. That was how Tinley used to look when I was younger. Corn, soybeans for miles. So awesome.  Flashback for sure. I miss it.  Now it's fuc!!ing wall to wall concrete and people who are not your neighbors but something else. Those days are long gone. It sucks. I'm a good honest dude, raised on a farm til 1979. Then the people started moving in. Some call it progress. I call it congestion.

[Tomy2Tone]

Can you imagine a home theater setup with a pair of maxed out Stratos HT-3's? I don't have the space for that kind of setup, but I imagine it would blow you away.

I just realized what you posted...

My post earlier in response mentioned TJHUB who happens to own a pair of Stratos amps with Salk HT-3 speakers. You obviously we're referring to the HT-3 amps from Odyssey.  When I saw HT-3 I immediately thought of Salk speakers 

[Arcticdeth]

Klaus,

The current for kismets is 120?
Is this peak or continuous?

[klaus@odyssey]

Peak..o course..unless you want to weld stuff for NASA

[Arcticdeth]

Peak..o course..unless you want to weld stuff for NASA

I am a certified welder.

Gas, oxy , smaw, gtaw or tungston,  gas metal & arc as well

[Tomy2Tone]

I am a certified welder.

Gas, oxy , smaw, gtaw or tungston,  gas metal & arc as well

What's smaw and gtaw?

[Arcticdeth]

Seems to me you should focus on one great system and keep a much lesser rig in the basement.  Or get rid of the basement system altogether.

I venture to say all of us are financially challenged to one degree or another.  We get it.  HE Audio is a luxury, not a necessity. 

Establish priorities.  Sell the Sunfire, get an old NAD 3020 as a preamp and go for the Odysseys, then gradually build up those items one at time.

AC members have given you a lot of good advice.  Start slow and build up with upgrades is a way to do it on a budget.  Long term it may be more expensive, but you (and I) only have short-term dollars.  As one who is often plagued with "did I buy the right item?  Should I have gotten the other amp?" neurosis, I also struggle with decisions on buying things, but it's your decision, not ours.

Anyway, good luck with the decision!

Only selling sunfire when it starts to hum. Hopefully another 20 years from now. Nowhere else can one get carvers brainchild with 600w at 8ohm. Doubling down to 1 ohm stable. Nowhere. Its a krell killer on a 30 amp line.  Say what you guys will about it, its a wonderful sounding beast!

[Arcticdeth]

What's smaw and gtaw?

Smaw. Fancy name for stick welding ). Makes me sound edumicated


Gtaw. Oxygen and acetylene welding. Another 10 dollar word for it, again makes me look edumicated

[draco]

Or the Crown XLS series, you can get a 300+ wpc amp for $250ish right now and it's surprisingly good.

I know that many people recommend the Crown XLS series. However, I used it with Maggie 3.6 and was very disappointed. It was not transparent in my setup and added to the grain of the speakers. The soundstage also seemed to shrink and flatten.
I then tried it with Sonus Faber Cremonas - again with similar results. It sounded like I was listening to an good receiver, not separates.
YMMV, especially as system synergy and components in the chain are important factors to the overall sound, but, IMO, there are better choices even in the bargain basement price range of this amp - NAD, Outlaw and Emotiva come to mind.
Perhaps the XLS sounds better with less demanding/transparent speakers????

[roscoeiii]

I know that many people recommend the Crown XLS series. However, I used it with Maggie 3.6 and was very disappointed. It was not transparent in my setup and added to the grain of the speakers. The soundstage also seemed to shrink and flatten.
I then tried it with Sonus Faber Cremonas - again with similar results. It sounded like I was listening to an good receiver, not separates.
YMMV, especially as system synergy and components in the chain are important factors to the overall sound, but, IMO, there are better choices even in the bargain basement price range of this amp - NAD, Outlaw and Emotiva come to mind.
Perhaps the XLS sounds better with less demanding/transparent speakers????

Don't want to derail the thread top much, but the XLS are great with my very power hungry SP Tech Revelations. Jackman and I preferred the XLS to his ncore on my speakers (but not on his). So synergy means a lot.

 Returning to the topic at hand, I do have Odyssey amps on my list to try with these speakers once I have the money for a big amp upgrade.

[DaveC113]

I know that many people recommend the Crown XLS series. However, I used it with Maggie 3.6 and was very disappointed. It was not transparent in my setup and added to the grain of the speakers. The soundstage also seemed to shrink and flatten.
I then tried it with Sonus Faber Cremonas - again with similar results. It sounded like I was listening to an good receiver, not separates.
YMMV, especially as system synergy and components in the chain are important factors to the overall sound, but, IMO, there are better choices even in the bargain basement price range of this amp - NAD, Outlaw and Emotiva come to mind.
Perhaps the XLS sounds better with less demanding/transparent speakers????

It depends on the speakers and I don't think XLS are near as good as the Odyssey amps (I own a Stratos stereo amp) but it's a good deal for $250 and maybe a good alternative to spending $2k+ when you don't make a lot. I agree it adds grain, but that's mainly the i/o jacks. Replacing the binding posts helps a lot. I think in most systems it will be much better than you are giving it credit for, in a friend's system it replaced Atmosphere OTLs with a 5-figure retail. It also sounds very transparent and neutral with the right speakers. Like everything in audio, synergy is key... especially with amp/speaker pairings.

[Arcticdeth]

I have used many pro amps, crown, QSC, yamaha. While yammaha had the best sound, they are flat, very flat, lifeless almost. The emotivas make qsc sound like shit, which surprised me.  Which is why im looking for better.

Klaus says the little 200 w monos will best the 1000w at 4 ohm emotivas. I dont doubt his know how and support of his own amps, i just dont want to spend what little cash i save and not get the return i expect formprice paid.

I have a hard time with buying expensive items, %97 of the time im taken advantage of.

[Hank]

Arcticdeth, I thought you had finally decided to buy the Kismets.  You have got to make a decision, man.  Klaus will NOT take advantage of you.  If your budget can't handle new amps, look for used or ask Klaus to let you know if he gets an inquiry from someone who wants to sell their current Odyssey amps and move up to more expensive ones.

[Tomy2Tone]

There's a pair of Stratos Extremes for sale on Agon...

[ctviggen]

Don't be frustrated, it's not worth it. The truth is it never ends, you can spend a million bucks on a system if you want, there's not a ton of folks who can afford that but it's doing nobody any good to pout that they can't afford a $1M system. It's a far better attitude to be grateful for what you do have, and the energy you put out with those sort of thoughts will bring more to be grateful for while being frustrated you can't afford more will just bring you more frustration.

Not to mention that there's always something better (or at least different) coming out.  You'd always be behind.

I agree with your thoughts.  I watch Motorweek, and while it's interesting to watch, I'd say at least half to two thirds of the vehicles they review are not affordable for less than the 1% (or even the 1% of the 1%) to buy.   For instance, they did a coupe shootout where the cheapest of the three cars was $75,000.   That's insane.  And they do this all the time.  Heck, even the Golf R they recently reviewed started at $37,000 -- for a VW Golf!  So, lately I've been watching the shows where they actually review something I might buy, but that limits the shows to one every once in a while.   

The other problem for cars or audio that the sky's the limit.  You can pay 100k+ for speakers or amps for instance, a million plus for a car.   And I don't think paying a lot necessarily means getting more, and it's certainly not linear (meaning you can pay twice as much but in terms of performance only get another 5%). 

[ctviggen]

Don't want to derail the thread top much, but the XLS are great with my very power hungry SP Tech Revelations. Jackman and I preferred the XLS to his ncore on my speakers (but not on his). So synergy means a lot.

 Returning to the topic at hand, I do have Odyssey amps on my list to try with these speakers once I have the money for a big amp upgrade.

Do the XLS have fans?  I couldn't see this on their website.  If they do have fans, that means no for me (I absolutely abhor fan noise).

[mcgsxr]

The XLS does have a fan.  If I put my nose to the amp case I can hear it.  I seriously cannot hear it from 1 foot away.  Love this amp. 

Back to Klaus's amps - I have never had one, but have had many recommendations to check one out.